Thousands of people from around Botswana attended the inauguration Friday of their country’s new president, Duma Boko, who called for unity after an election that brought an end to the former ruling party’s 58 years in power.

His Umbrella for Democratic Change, a coalition of Botswana National Front and the Alliance for Progressives won 36 parliamentary seats and denied former president Mokgweetsi Masisi a second term.

Boko took his oath in front of thousands of citizens and delegates in the capital Gaborone on Friday after arriving in an open top vehicle accompanied by flag-carrying soldiers on white horses.

Addressing the nation in his first official speech as president, Boko encouraged those in attendance to give his predecessor — who was often subjected to jeers — some love and praised his willingness to concede power without incident.

He described the change of government in Botswana as a historic moment and stressed the need to avoid squabbles and personal rifts.

“This is indeed a historic moment most humbling and most sobering. It is one of the rarest moments that can only be acknowledged in retrospect,” he said.

He expressed his love for his country and the appreciation they had shown him in electing him to the country’s highest office.

“It gives me great pleasure when I look at you and you look back at me and say that’s my boy. You say so because you raised the boy. You love the boy. You know and understand that this boy loves you,” said Boko in a colorful inauguration speech fueled by optimism but thin on details of his party’s plans for national development.

During the campaign, his party promised to fight corruption and introduce a minimum wage of 4,000 Pula ($302) per month, unemployment allowance and to increase old age benefits and build new enterprises.

A recent Afrobarometer survey shows that unemployment is the most pressing concern for citizens, far surpassing other issues such as health, crime, poverty, education and corruption.

Official statistics show that unemployment has increased to 27.6% in 2024 from 25.9% in 2023.

“We want the government to create jobs and make better use of public funds,” said Onkutule Ntwayagae, a self-employed 42-year-old from the village of Mahalapye, attended the inauguration. Ntwayagae said he was expecting a change and an improvement in the livelihood of ordinary people.

Diamonds account for 80% of Botswana’s exports but the global downturn in demand for mined diamonds has affected the revenues of Debswana, the mining company the government owns with mining conglomerate De Beers, each with a 50% share.

There have been calls for Botswana to have increased ownership and to benefit more from the arrangement.

“If he is able to renegotiate the deal with De Beers it would create jobs. Debswana is our main cash cow and if it is experiencing difficulty we have serious problems.” Ntwayagae said.

Some Batswana believed that they would never witness a peaceful transfer of power to opposition.

“It means a lot for me because I never thought this day would come. We have seen the opposition fighting for power for so long. I am happy to have been able to witness this historic moment”, said Gosego Moleele, a teacher from Jwaneng.

Former president Ian Khama, South African deputy president Paul Mashatile and South Africa’s Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema were among the dignitaries attending the inauguration.

AP

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Deputy President Paul Mashatile will attend the inauguration of Botswana’s new president Duma Boko in Gaborone on Friday.

Boko was elected after his party, the Umbrella for Democratic Change, won the country’s 13^th general elections and unseated the Botswana Democratic Party that had been in power for 53 years since gaining independence from Britain.

According to the Presidency, Mashatile was attending the inauguration as delegated by President Cyril Ramaphosa, who would be in in KwaZulu-Natal for a presidential imbizo.

Ramaphosa has congratulated Boko on his victory and reaffirmed South Africa’s commitment to working closely with Botswana, as a valued neighbour, to realise the regional integration agenda in pursuit of Africa’s prosperity. 

South Africa and Botswana enjoy strong political, economic and social relations, which date back to pre-independence in Botswana, during the struggle against colonialism and apartheid in South Africa. 

“South Africa wishes President Duma Boko and the Botswana government well in this democratic transition and looks forward to supporting the country’s efforts toward economic growth and prosperity,” the Presidency said in a statement on Thursday.

Botswana has declared a public holiday for Thursday and Friday.

The inauguration will take place at the National Stadium, with a number of leaders and dignitaries expected to attend.

While there has been increased security, protests are unlikely as the transition between Boko and his predecessor, Mokgweetsi Masisi, has been smooth, with Masisi offering his support to the new 54-year-old leader, who is a human rights lawyer.

INSIDE POLITICS

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Donald Trump’s U.S. presidential election victory on Wednesday will essentially end the criminal cases brought against him, at least for the four years he occupies the White House.

The first former U.S. president to face criminal charges, Trump for much of this year faced four simultaneous prosecutions, over allegations ranging from his attempt to cover up a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels during his 2016 campaign to his attempts to overturn his 2020 election defeat. A New York jury in May found him guilty of falsifying business records tied to the Daniels payment, making him the first former U.S. president convicted of a felony.

Trump, a Republican, told an interviewer on Oct. 24 that he would fire U.S. Special Counsel Jack Smith — who led the federal prosecutions over his attempts to overturn his election defeat and retention of classified documents after leaving office — “within two seconds” of being sworn in.

Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges and cast the prosecutions as politically motivated.

“The American people have heard these Democrat prosecutors’ cases against President Trump and they’re still going to elect him anyway,” said Mike Davis, the founder of the Article III Project, a conservative legal advocacy group.

While Trump as president will have the authority to fire Smith and shut down the federal cases against him, he will not have the same control over the New York hush money case or Georgia’s prosecution of him for trying to overturn his 2020 loss in that state. But his unique role as president makes it unlikely he will face legal consequences in either case during his term in office.

“He was properly charged with crimes within the system we have,” said Kristy Parker, a special counsel at Protect Democracy, an advocacy organization dedicated to countering what it calls authoritarian threats to the U.S. Parker said if Trump does shut down the cases, “that won’t mean it was the right thing.”

One more court date is scheduled before he is due to be sworn in on Jan. 20, though legal experts said that was unlikely to go forward.

In New York, Trump’s lawyers are expected to ask Justice Juan Merchan to delay his sentencing currently scheduled for Nov. 26 – in which he could face up to four years in prison. Sentencing a president-elect ahead of Inauguration Day would be unprecedented in U.S. history, and legal experts expect the hearing to be delayed. In New York, Trump’s lawyers are expected to ask Justice Juan Merchan to delay his sentencing currently scheduled for Nov. 26 – in which he could face up to four years in prison. Sentencing a president-elect ahead of Inauguration Day would be unprecedented in U.S. history, and legal experts expect the hearing to be delayed.

Merchan has already twice postponed Trump’s sentencing, which was initially scheduled for July 11, in part due to a July U.S. Supreme Court ruling finding that presidents have broad immunity from prosecution over their official acts. Trump argues the case should be dismissed based on the ruling, which prosecutors dispute.

Trump has vowed to appeal his conviction once he is sentenced. Separately, his lawyers have asked the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to move the case to federal court. Such a move, if successful, could create new legal obstacles for the case.

Trump faces four charges in federal court in Washington accusing him of spreading false claims of election fraud to try to block the collection and certification of votes following the 2020 election, which Trump lost to Democrat Joe Biden.

Smith had also charged Trump with unlawfully holding onto classified documents after his first term ended in 2021 and obstructing efforts by the U.S. government to retrieve the records.

Florida-based U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who was nominated to the bench by Trump, dismissed all charges in July after finding that Smith was improperly appointed to the role and did not have the authority to bring the case.

Smith’s team is appealing the ruling, but Trump’s vow to fire Smith immediately upon taking office likely signals the end of the case.

Prosecutors in Fulton County, Georgia, last year used state racketeering laws — developed to fight organized crime — to charge Trump in an alleged conspiracy to reverse his defeat in the battleground state in the 2020 election.

Trump will not be able to end the prosecution, but his lawyer has already said in court he will seek to pause any activity related to Trump based on an argument that a president should not face the burden of a criminal prosecution while in office.

Trump and eight of his 14 co-defendants in the case are asking a Georgia appeals court to disqualify the lead prosecutor, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, over alleged misconduct stemming from a romantic relationship she had with a former deputy. Oral arguments are scheduled for Dec. 5.

If that effort fails, the case will be able to proceed against the other co-defendants, who include Trump’s former personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani and White House chief-of-staff Mark Meadows. But legal experts expect that the case against Trump will not progress while he remains in the White House.

Reuters

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Tunisia’s President Kais Saied has been inaugurated for a second term, following a monthslong crackdown and string of arrests against his political opponents.

Weeks after winning reelection with a 90.7% share of the vote, the 66-year-old former law professor in his inauguration speech Monday called for a “cultural revolution” to combat unemployment, fight terrorism and root out corruption.

“The aim is to build a country where everyone can live in dignity,” Saied said in a speech addressing members of Tunisia’s parliament.

Saied’s Oct. 7 reelection came after a turbulent first term during which he suspended the country’s parliament, rewrote its post-Arab Spring constitution and jailed dozens of his critics in politics, media, business and civil society. He has justified elements of the crackdown as necessary to fight corruption and enemies of the state, using populism to appeal to Tunisians disillusioned with the direction that those who preceded him took the country after nationwide protests led to the 2011 ouster of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

He promised to target the “thieves and traitors on the payroll of foreigners” and blamed “counterrevolutionary forces” for obstructing his efforts to buoy Tunisia’s struggling economy throughout his first term in office.

“The task was not easy. The dangers were great,” he said. “The arms of the old regime were like vipers circulating everywhere. We could hear them hissing, even if we couldn’t see them.”

Though Saied proclaimed a commitment to respecting freedoms, many journalists were prevented from covering his swearing-in on Monday, leading to a rebuke from the National Syndicate of Tunisian Journalists, which expressed “its firm condemnation of the ongoing blackout policy and restrictions on journalistic work” in a statement.

AP

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